Agreed. I had an absolute blast on the ride last year until we crossed the Oregon state line. Oregon did a horrible job of supporting the event last year. Now the fees go up and no jacket? This would be much more palatable if there was a resonable explanation to go along with that announcement. Did I just miss it?

When I registered for STP yesterday, there was an explanation about the jacket: they're substituting a multi-tool in its place, which likely isn't cheap. It also seems they'd gotten "environmental" complaints about tyvek as a material. Personally, I've never been a huge fan of the tyvek jacket; seems mine always either flap too much in the wind, or balloon out too much, so I usually wear something else. I'd rather have the tool.

As to the fee increase...that's likely due to the extreme popularity of the event, and how early the limited number of slots has been selling out. Supply / Demand. It's a club fundraiser, and people have been willing to pay it. Particularly, I think, because STP's status as a "bucket list" event make people less price conscious.

I picked up serious road cycling (pacelines and all) about two and a half years ago, and I jumped all-in with the Cascade rides at first. This coming year, the only Cascade-sponsored ride I'm planning on is RSVP1.

Don't get me wrong; the hard-working folks at Cascade do as good a job as anyone can expect them to. There are simply unavoidable problems with high-density rides that I almost never encounter when I go out on a weekend ride with a smaller group. Why subject myself to the mayhem of the big rides when I can have just as much fun with less cost and stress on an informal weekend ride?

STP 2012, I rode one-day. Forty miles in at >20mph, I was 3 bikes behind one cyclist who overlapped his front wheel with the rear derailleur of the guy in front of him. He went down hard (blood and broken bones), and I narrowly missed getting tangled up in the mess. Then on the trail part of the ride, a random guy who decided to invite himself to paceline behind me ended up bumping my rear tire. I sat out STP 2013, and one of the guys in my riding group later posted a picture of his cracked carbon frame that took him out about mile 50. Someone had strewn tacks along the route (happens every year now), and the random cyclist in front of him decided a good way to deal with that was to slam on his brakes in the middle of his paceline.

I rode Flying Wheels 2013, and we had two instances of extremely aggressive and dangerous behavior from motorists around Kelly/Cherry. Regular riders already know what to expect there, but the concentration of riders all at once enrages locals who expect to have the roads mostly to themselves. I'd rather not have to again deal with someone in a pickup truck fully crossing a double yellow at 50mph, horn blaring, to get around a 25mph paceline on a blind corner with a 35mph speed limit.

RSVP1 2013, I skipped the Burke-Gilman portion and met up with my group at Wilmot. I'm glad I did, because my otherwise-steel-nerved companions reported horrific riding conditions on that stretch. I will of course be skipping the Burke-Gilman part again this year.

I'm just one anecdote, and there are plenty of you to have very different experiences. But for me, high-density Cascade rides feel like rolling the dice every time now.

Complaining without offering any solutions is poor form, so I'll offer up some suggestions, mostly around reducing rider density.

Split the events like is done with RSVP1/2

Raise ticket prices; use increased revenue to hire more staff that focuses on problems between the rest stops

Sell limited amount of tickets for various start times (not really enforceable; people would generally have to voluntarily stick to that)

Alternative official start points (avoid the Burke-Gilman catastrophe at the start of RSVP)

Multiple same-distance routes

Alternative routes that avoid narrow trails and other trouble spots if you're willing to ride on the shoulder or ride a slightly longer distance (invariably though some cyclists will end up following whoever's in front of them and take a route they weren't expecting)

Drastically reduce the overall number of tickets sold (RAMROD style)

Better engage the local community prior to the event; put up those electronic signs on roads like Kelly/Cherry a week ahead of the event warning of the impending impact to the transportation infrastructure, similar to what is done when a road/ramp will be closed

Make YouTube videos demonstrating how to ride safely and considerately and include links to them on the event web page and in confirmation emails and what not